The LA Clippers share a city and, for the time being, an arena with the Los Angeles Lakers, but what they no longer share with the more famous team is the name of that city. That’s right: the Clippers are now officially known throughout the NBA not as the Los Angeles Clippers — no such team here — but as the LA Clippers. Two letters: LA.
The change is a purposeful way to create a distinction for the Clippers, essentially giving the team a city of its own even if it’s just semantics. Here, officially, are the two NBA teams from California’s largest metropolis: the Los Angeles Lakers and the LA Clippers. Got it? These guys do…
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, who paid $2 billion for the Los Angeles Clippers, must have thought long and hard about the change to just “LA”, which, for the former Microsoft exec, is a sort of Clippers 2.0.
Addressing the confusing ambiguity the shared “Los Angeles” imparted to the two franchises, Clippers president of business operations Gillian Zucker told The Athletic:
“I just really felt like it was important there would be a distinction — that when people see ‘LA,’ they know which team they’re talking about. When people say “Los Angeles,” they know what team they’re talking about, in league standings and listings.”
Gillian Zucker, LA Clippers President of Business Operations
Celtics fans, who famously chanted “BEAT L.A.” when the 76ers were long ago dispatching Boston to face the Lakers in the NBA FINALS, will have to be informed of the change. “Beat Los Angeles” will be harder to chant.
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